The chief executive of the UK Border Agency has regularly written to the Home Affairs Select Committee in which she has provided all of the most robust and accurate information on the subject of deportation of foreign criminals. In her most recent letter to the Committee, dated 8 December, she advised that the agency had deported or removed over 4,500 foreign criminals and was on track to not only meet but exceed its target of deporting or removing 5,000 foreign criminals in 2008. Copies of her letters are available in the Library of the House.
The UK Border Agency has since confirmed that, according to provisional management information, more than 5,000 foreign criminals were removed or deported in 2008.
Published statistics on immigration and asylum, including removal of illegal immigrants, are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.